In The Room Where You Sleep
by ninety6tears
Summary: Commentfic inspired by a cracky Halloween-themed post over at Livejournal. AU; a bit angsty, a bit fluffy.


Generally speaking, Kara isn't really a fan of Lee and Zak's mom, and she can't put her finger on why. She is the only parent of any of her friends who doesn't look at her in a transparently disapproving way. She lets pretty much everything slide whenever their dad isn't around.

For one thing, she's fine with allowing sleepovers on weeknights.

More importantly, she's fine with allowing sleepovers with girls.

Zak is picking up a scribbled-on index card from a stack they made last Halloween, biting off the fringe edges of his Reese's before popping the center into his mouth. Lee eats his peanut butter cups little bite by bite; Kara shoves the whole thing in at once.

"Which of us is..." Zak squints at the fat magic marker handwriting. "Oh: Which of us would last the longest during a zombie attack."

A moment of brief contemplation, and then the brothers point at Kara at the same time. She raises her arms in smug victory, eyes shining behind her mother's aviator goggles. They're authentic vintage Air Force inherited from her grandfather, and she'll probably catch hell later for borrowing them without asking, but it was for a bitchin' costume, even if the corresponding bomber jacket is a little too big on her.

She declares this round Kit Kats, and everybody scrounges in the massive pile of the candy they all dumped out of their pillowcases onto the bed, finding one for everybody. Kara bites right in without even breaking off the pieces. Zak teethes off the wafer layers one by one. Lee eats one piece and tucks the rest into the wrapper and then into his front pajama pocket for later. He and Zak have both changed out of their costumes; Kara forgot to bring a change of clothes.

She wins the next choice too for Most Likely To Be Able To Properly Chop Wood, Lee snickering and marveling at how they ever came up with half of these cards. Zak offers, "I think Dad gave us some suggestions." Kara fondly remembers that previous year when Mr. Adama was home a little more often; he was never exactly nice, but he used to crack her up whenever he gave his occasional interjections.

She says, "Hershey kisses." They assume there are tons, but they can't find a third; Lee is already savoring his, and Zak has already unwrapped the other one. She yells, "Hey!" when he pops it into his mouth.

Then Zak leans in and smudges a kiss on her cheekbone, saying, "There." She grins and wipes him off with a lightly slapping motion.

"Punk," she grumbles.

"Why are we watching Sin City? I thought we were going to watch Halloween movies?"

"It's got gore. And cannibalism." Lee shrugs, and his smile travels into a smirk as he pays more attention to the TV than he has in many minutes. "Besides, Jessica Alba's hot in that cowgirl outfit."

Kara looks at Lee sidelong and gets an itchy feeling that makes her swallow and look away from him. She noticed him starting to notice girls (notably quite belatedly) about a couple months ago, seemingly the very moment it began.

That moment involved Anastasia Dualla and gym class, and Kara had tormented him by muttering, "Woah there, sparky," into his ear.

"Besides," Kara adds, "none of us really like scary movies anyway." It's no fun; none of them get scared. She knows she's had enough of the real monsters in life; she's not sure why it would be the same for Zak or Lee but she's never asked.

That night in their triangular tired sprawl on the queen-size when Kara's borrowed and changed into one of Lee's t-shirts, she pouts for Zak to put a pillow on her cold feet. Some hour after he's slapped it on her with a well-aimed toss, she's opening her eyes again for some reason. She's opening them to see Lee's eyes looking at her.

Next Halloween they will do nothing together because Zak will get beat up in a fight at school. She will realize what made him easy to set off when the rumors about the divorce boil up. Less than a month after the Adamas will move away and they will not write or call and she will miss them more than she thinks is really fair for her to have to feel. Karl Agathon's mother will scowl at her when she picks him up in her mother's truck a couple years later.

Several years and she will get a call from Zak Adama and meet him at a diner with their arms going around each other, and he will be in town to see his brother, which will make her say: "What?"

Some more months and she will see Lee and they will be all "What are the chances?" about him studying law in the same city where she's training to fly. She will be surprised when he starts calling her after that. They will be older and certain rather than pondering what the real monsters are, the ones they never talk about with each other, but she will wonder if she had a hibernating creature in her closet after all, if it could have crept out while she was sleeping and crawled between her ribs and into her chest, because it does this glorious terrible roaring every time she sees the man Lee is now.

There will come a year when she will call him and he'll say that his plans for Halloween are to stay in and cram for an exam. Just before he's about to step out for some coffee, Kara will appear on the doorstep of his condominium and open her jacket to reveal a studded bra and leather chaps and the most wonderful menacing smile on her face that says _You better fucking appreciate this._

What she will say to his gaping expression is "Woah there, sparky."

"Uh..." Lee will have trouble sorting through his breathlessness, and will stammer, "Trick or treat?..."

"That's my line," she'll say and step close just enough for him to absolutely have to kiss her.

Tonight, she opens her eyes in the middle of the night and sees Lee looking at her and knows none of this. She gives an almost demure, accusing look from under her sleepy lashes, smiles, and turns away to lay on her other side.


End file.
